


sunshine on the shore

by junietuesday25



Series: silver of the sea [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Referenced Link/Marin (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26882512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junietuesday25/pseuds/junietuesday25
Summary: Link searches for Secret Seashells at Martha's Bay.
Relationships: Link & Martha (Legend of Zelda)
Series: silver of the sea [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961308
Comments: 10
Kudos: 11





	sunshine on the shore

**Author's Note:**

> oops i’m having a million and one feels about link’s awakening so take this series about all of the npcs. bc like link lost marin and that’s tragic on its own but the _entirety of koholint disappeared_. an entire island of people link got to know over his adventure, gone to the wind. anyways im crying again but it's ok!!!! this fic is fluffy!!!!!! everything is fine~

Link sat down at a small cliff by Martha’s Bay, his legs dangling over the edge as he pulled on his flippers. As he wiggled his feet into the awful things, he heard the splashing of waves from the water below.

“Hiya, Link,” said Martha the mermaid, her red necklace sparkling in the sunshine. Good—Link wasn’t finding it for her _again_. (That was what he told himself, anyway.) “Whatcha doing back here?”

“Felt like a swim,” Link said with a roll of his eyes, as he pulled his tunic off over his head. He folded it and placed it next to him, stacking his hat on top. “Hero things, of course.”

“Of course,” Martha repeated with a pout. “It gets so lonely around here, y’know. None of the villagers ever come by. And you’re always running around the island like an anemone on its deathbed—you should take a break once in a while, hang out with me.”

“Anemones _move?_ ” Link said incredulously, ignoring all of her other words. “But they’re just underwater plants.”

“Oh, no,” Martha said, reclining on her back to sun her warm orange scales. “They can move _fast._ They wiggle like this—” Martha made a wave motion with her hand, bracelets clinking together with the movement “—and then—HEY!”

Link held his breath and jumped into the water, the shockwave from the impact splashing Martha from head to tailfin. He resurfaced, laughing; the sunshine was soft on his shoulders, and the water was pleasantly cool against his skin. Martha glared.

“That’s really rude, y’know!”

“You’re a mermaid,” Link brushed her off. “You’re always wet.”

Martha “hmph!”ed, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward.

“You’re incorrigible,” Martha said, crossing her arms. “I can’t imagine why Marin would like you.”

Link had been about to retort “And you’re a walking dictionary, apparently” and get back to the task at hand, but he froze at her last words. 

_Marin likes me?_

Link felt himself blush, and it only deepened when he saw Martha’s teasing grin. A part of his brain was embarrassed that Martha was here to see his flustered reaction—the rest of it was simply nothing but “!!!!!!!!!!!”.

“She does?” Link asked, forcing his tone to stay even instead of the high pitch it wanted to go to. “I thought you said none of the villagers ever visit. How could you know?”

“Marin’s different,” Martha dismissed. “She comes to say hi sometimes because she’s nice. But don’t change the subject!” She smirked at him. “Your face is so red, loverboy.”

“I—!” Link gave up on a response and huffed, turning away. He wished he had his hat to hide his face in. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I was here for a reason.”

“Aw, sorry,” Martha said, catching up to float at his side. “I suppose I’ll let you two stay in the mutual pining stage for a little longer. Whatcha here for, then?”

_…Mutual pining?_

“Secret Seashells,” Link told her. He began to swim, watching the water underneath him for the brown color of the shells. The water of Koholint was always bright and clear, but the shells’ coloring was irritatingly similar to the seabed. Honestly, he found the puzzle of reaching certain seashells gratifying—but he’d also discovered seashells buried under random spots or hidden in bushes all over the island, and simply cutting down every plant in sight was rather tedious. “I have to find a bunch of them for this weird spirit in a mansion, and it’ll give me a new sword.”

“Hmm,” Martha said, swimming leisurely backwards beside him. “What’s the difference between it and that sword you’ve got already?”

“It’s better, apparently,” Link said. For a moment he thought he’d spotted a shell, but it was just a weirdly-shaped rock. “Which I believe. This sword is trash compared to the Master Sword—but then I suppose all swords are.”

“Master Sword?” Martha said with a frown. “That’s kind of pretentious.”

“Well, it’s earned the right,” Link said. It felt strange talking about familiar things like the Master Sword, after so many weeks on this island so separate from home. “It’s a legendary sword from Hyrule, used to seal away evil.”

“Hyrule, huh?” Martha snorted. “Weird name.”

“It’s ‘cause our kingdom believes in the Goddess Hylia,” Link explained. “Who’re you to talk, anyway—this place is called _Koholint._ ”

“They say it’s another word for ‘dream.’” Martha paused, and then shook her head, her tone becoming cheery once again. “So how many more of these seashells do you need to find?”

“I don’t know.” Link sighed. “I hope it’s not too many more—I’ve already found fifteen, and the meter thing was close to full when I offered them to the mansion.”

“Well, you’re not gonna find them anytime soon if you’re this slow at searching,” Martha told him. “You’re a terribly slow swimmer.”

“Not all of us have tails,” Link grumbled, having heard far too many slights against his swimming ability. “Mine got lost in the storm that washed me up here.”

“You… You lost your _tail_?”

Martha’s horrified expression was absolutely hilarious. Link decided not to clarify that he’d simply lost his mermaid suit from his adventure in Labrynna. Which was a _pain_ —after all the work and puzzle-solving he did to get it, he’d lost it to a _thunderstorm_ of all things.

“Mm. It really is tragic. Now I’m back to just using flippers.” Suddenly Link was struck by an idea. “Hey, if you’re such a good swimmer, how about you help me find a seashell?”

“Sure, I suppose,” Martha said, staring at him with… actual pity, it seemed. Link tried not to snicker. “What do they look like?”

“Spiral-shaped, about this big—” Link demonstrated with his hands “—and they’re cream on the open end with a brown point.”

“Got it.” Martha pulled her long, shiny black hair up into a ponytail. “Try to keep up, loverboy.”

Martha flicked her tailfin, then leapt upwards and dove into the water with a great splash, zooming off with only a few pumps of her tail. Link swam after her, but even with the magic of the Angler’s Flippers, he was no match for a mermaid’s strength and speed.

None of that made Link feel any less indignant when Martha resurfaced about a minute later, holding up a Secret Seashell.

“Is this what you’re looking for?”

“…Yes,” Link admitted, glaring at the innocent-looking seashell in her hands. “How did you find it so fast?”

“Sharp eyes,” Martha said, flashing him a grin as she tossed the shell to him. Link caught it, clutching it to his chest—he was not going to lose it after the amount of time spent searching. “No, I’m kidding—I’ve seen it a few times when I swim around the bay.”

“ _Ugh,_ ” Link groaned, and if he weren’t holding the Secret Seashell he would have put his face in his hands. “I should’ve just asked you to start with.”

Martha had the gall to laugh at him.

**Author's Note:**

> before anyone comes after me YES i know that there are no secret seashells under the water of martha’s bay, i took creative liberty for the sake of the story ok?? if it really bothers you that much i just took the one on the south end of the bay, moved the island out farther from shore and sunk it underwater so that you can’t see the seashell from above the water
> 
> ~~also im SORRY to anyone waiting for me to finish transferring my bmq or qlfc fics i will get to that. eventually.~~
> 
> edit: [now in koholish!](https://junietuesday.tumblr.com/post/633167741155753984/aybagubew-ib-regew-agi%C3%ABw)


End file.
